Dissociative identity disorders.

Patient with dissociative identity disorder can

present with acute forms of amnesia and fugue episodes. These patients, however,
are characterized by a plethora of symptoms, only some of which are usually found
in patients with dissociatve amnesia. With respect to amnesia, most patients with
dissociative identity disorder and those with dissociative disorder not otherwise
specified with dissociative identity disorder features report multiple forms of
complex amnesia, including recurrent blackouts, fugues, unexplained possessions,
and fluctuations in skills, habits, and knowledge.
Acute Stress Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Somatic Symptom
Disorder. Most forms of dissociative amnesia are best conceptualized as part of a
group of trauma spectrum disorders that includes acute stress disorder,
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and somatic symptom disorder. Many patients
with dissociative amnesia meet full or partial diagnostic criteria for those acute
stress disorders or a combination of the three. Amnesia is a criterion symptom of
each of the latter dissoder.
Malingering and Factitious Amnesia. No absolute way exists to differentiate
dissociative amnesia from factitious or malingered amnesia. Malingerers have been
noted to continue their deception even during hypnotically or barbiturate-facilitated
interviews. A patient who presents to psychiatric attention seeking to recover
repressed memories as a chief complaint most likely has a factitious disorder or has
been subject to suggestive influences. Most of these individualis actually do not
describe bona fide amnesia when carefukky questioned, but are often insistent that
they must have been abused in childhood to explain their unhappiness or life
dysfunction.
Course and Prognosis
Little is known about the clinical course of dissociative amnesia. Acute dissociative
amnesia frequently spontaneously resolves once the person is removed to safety
from traumatic or overwhelming circumstances. At the other extreme, some patient
do develop chronic forms of generalized, continuous, or severe localized amnesia
and are profoundly disabled and require high levels of social support, such as
nursing home placement or intensive family caretaking. Clinicians should try to
restore patient lost memories to consciousness as soon as possible, otherwise, the
repressed memory may form a nucleus in the unconscious mind around which
future amnestic episodes may develop.
Treatment
Cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy may have specific benefits for individuals with trauma
disorders. Identifiying the spesific cognitive distortions that are based in the trauma may provide
an entry into autobiographical memory for which the patient experiences amnesia. As the
patient becomes able to correct cognitive distortions, particulary about the meaning of prior

trauma, more detailed recall of traumatic event may occur.

Hypnosis. Hypnoais can be used in a number a different ways in the treatment of dissociative
amnesia. In particular, hypnotic interventions can be used to contain, modulate, and titrate the
intensity of symptoms; to facilitate controlled recall of dissociated memories; to provide support
and ego strengthening for the patient; and finally, to promote working through and integration of
dissociated material. In addition, the patient can be taught self hypnosis to apply containment
and calming techniques in his or her everyday life. Successful use of containment techniques,
whethet hypnotically facilitated or not, also increases the patient sense that he or she can more
effectively be in control of alternations between intrusivr symptoms anf amnesia.
Somatic therapies. No known pharmacotherapy exists for dissociative amnesia other than
pharmacologically facilitated interviews. A variety of agentd have been used for this purpose,
including sodium amobarbital, thiopental (pentothal), oral benzodiazepinrs, and amphetamines.
Pharmacologically, facilitated interviews using intravenous amobarbital or diazepam (valium)
are used primaly in working with acute amnesias and conversion reactions, among other
indications, in general hospital medical and psychiatric services. This procedure is also
occasionally useful in refractory cases of chronic dissociative amnesia when patients are
unresponsive to other interventions. The material uncovered in a pharmacologically facilitated
interviews needs to be processed by the patient in his or her usual conscious state.
Group psychotherapy. Time limited and longer term group psychotherapy have been reported to
be helpful for combat veterans with PTSD and for survivors of childhood abuse. During group
sessions, patient may recover memories for which they have had amnesia. Supportive
interventions by the group members or the group therapist, or both, may facilitated integration
and mastery of the dissociated material.
Depersonalization/derealization disorder
Depersonalization is defined as the persistent or recurrent feeling of deatchment or
estrangement from one self. The individual may report feeling like an automaton or watching
himself or herself in movies. Derealization is somewhat related and refers to feelings of unreality
or of beinv detached from one environment. The patient may describe his or her perception of
the outside world as lacking lucidity and emotional coloring, as though dreaming or dead. The
current dsm 5 definition of Depersonalization disorder ia found in table 12 5
Epidemiology
Transient experiences of Depersonalization and derealization are extremely common in normal
and clinical populations. They are the third most commonly reported psychiatric symptoms, after
depression and anxiety. One survey found a 1 year prevalence of 19 percent in the general
population. It is common in seizures patients and migraine sufferers; they can also occur with

use of psychedelic drugs, especially marijuana, lysergic acid diethylamidr (LSD), and mescaline,
and less frequently as a side effect of some medications, such as anticholinergic agents. They
have described after certain types of meditation, deep hypnosis, extended mirror or crystal
gazing, and sensory deprivation experiences. They are also common after mild to moderate
head injury, where in little or no loss of consciousness occurs, but they are significantly less
likely if unconsciousness lasts for more than 30 minutes. They are also common aftet life
threatening experiences, with or without seriously bodily injury. Depersonalization is found two to
four times more in women than in men

Etiology
Psychodynamic. Traditional psychodynamic formulations have emphazied the
disintegration of the ego or have viewed depersonalization asn an affective
response in defense of the ego. The explanations stress the role of overwhelming
painful experiences of confilctual impulses as triggering events.
Traumatic stress. A susbtansial proportion, typically one third to one half, of patients
in clinical depersonalization case series report histories of significant trauma.
Several studies of accident victims find as many as 60 percent of those with a life
threatening experience report at least transient depersonalization during the event
or immediately thereafter. Military derealization are commonly evoked by stress and
fatigue and are inversely related to performance.
Neurobiological therories. The association of depersonalization with migraines and
marijuana, its generally favorable response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
and